Selene's legs were numb. She didn't know if it was because her strength was gone or the man who had been filling her thoughts for the past year was standing in front of her. She couldn't read his eyes.

"Cyan is hurt," was the first thing that came out of her mouth.

Aiden rushed to the elf's side and slowly turned her onto her back. The blood seeped between her fingers as she pressed them against her wound.

"Idiot," he said to her.

She painfully grinned back.

He looked up at Selene and asked, "Do you have any bandages?"

"No, we used them all during training."

Aiden pulled out his knife and cut into Cyan's clothes, exposing her abdomen. Then he shrugged off his coat and ripped a strip of cloth from his shirt, stuffing the wound.

Cyan moaned in pain and dug her claws into the snow.

"Put her legs on your lap," he ordered Selene. She followed his instructions, trying not to show how badly she was shaking.

For the first time, Selene feared for Cyan's life.

She did her best to stay calm, not wanting Cyan to see the fear on her face. It wouldn't have mattered anyway, because the elf's eyes were squeezed shut.

"Do you have alcohol?" Aiden asked.

With shaky hands, Selene pulled their bottle of liquor out of Cyan's bottomless bag and handed it to Aiden.

He didn't hesitate as he dumped the rest of its contents onto the wound.

Cyan let out a deafening, inhuman, scream as the alcohol cleaned her wound, but she remained as still as possible.

" An Akiri can carry all sorts of diseases with it. Hopefully that helped. Now, we need to close the wounds, but we have no fire. Your Moonfire may be able to seal it long enough for us to get her somewhere safe. Can you do it?"

"Yes, I've done it before."

She held a finger to Cyan's wound and lit just the tip of it with Moonfire, just as they had trained so long ago. Then she began to seal the gashes with her fire. It was then that Cyan began to buck. Aiden threw himself across her, holding her to the ground as Selene precisely sealed the torn skin together. Selene withdrew the piece of Aiden's shirt and finished closing the wound before blood could come pouring out.

As soon as she finished, Cyan went limp from exhaustion, her nails still in their clawed form.

Aiden leaned back on the balls of his feet and stared at the sealed gashes, for too long it seemed.

He was looking anywhere but at Selene.

She felt her heart fall.

"We need to get her to a doctor," Selene said, standing to gather the things of theirs that had been thrown everywhere.

"I know of a place," he said as he gently picked up the elf. Then he began walking away. Selene hurriedly threw Cyan's pack over her shoulder and jogged to catch up to him.

Neither of them spoke a word as they walked. Selene had no idea what she could say that would make amends for her leaving. At first, she hoped he had forgiven her after all these months. But after seeing his reaction to her earlier, she knew that his feelings hadn't changed.

So they walked in silence.

The sun had nearly set before they reached their destination, a small cottage in the middle of the woods. Here the snow had already melted and the sprouts of spring were beginning to show. From the cottage, chimney billowed smoke and candles shown from the few windows.

"What is this place?" Selene asked.

"A lot has happened in these past five months," was Aiden's only answer. He approached the door and before he could even knock, it flew open to reveal a young woman. Her blonde hair was tied back, loose strands had fallen out of it as if she had been working on something. Her blue eyes darted from Selene to Aiden and landed on Cyan.

Though she was quite small, she reached out and dragged Aiden inside, not bothering to wave Selene in as well. When Selene entered the cottage, it was just how she pictured it, save for the walls, which were covered in all types of things. From axes to herbs and wolf skins to tapestries. There wasn't an inch of room left free on any wall in the small house.

The woman began to pull different things from the walls, mostly herbs, and dug through cabinets to find bandages and a small knife.

Aiden seemed to know his way around as he walked to a cluttered table, cleared it with an arm, and laid Cyan down on top of it.

Then the girl shooed both Aiden and Selene back outside before slamming the door in their faces.

Selene stood in front of it for a moment, still trying to process what just happened, while Aiden put his hands in his pockets and walked away.

I have to speak to him eventually, Selene said to herself.

What would she say? She didn't give herself the chance to back out.

"Aiden?"

He stopped walking but kept his back to her.

Now in a panic, she wracked her brain for something to say, yet nothing came to mind.

"I like your tattoo," said Aiden, "Now you look like a real warrior."

Then he disappeared around the corner of the cottage.

Was that it? Was that all he had to say to her?

She followed him.

He had settled himself down on the ground with his back against the wall. There was just enough moonlight to see the scar that ran down his face.

"I didn't know you could fight like that," she said.

"There are a lot of things you don't know about me. You didn't stick around long enough to find out."

"How did you find this place?" she asked, ignoring his snide comment.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back, "I stumbled across it a long time ago after being injured by a wild animal. Meredith healed me with no payment. All she said was that she was fulfilling the Angels' will."

"So she is a healer?"

"She is many things. Whatever strikes her fancy."

That explained the assortment of items covering her walls.

"May I sit with you?" Selene asked, wary that he would get up and walk away if she did.

"Do as you like," he responded.

She lowered herself down next to him and restrained herself from glancing over at him.

"Thank you for saving Cyan and me earlier. Without you, I don't know what would have become of us."

They said nothing for the rest of the night, not even when the girl, Meredith, came out to fetch them.

Cyan looked much better than before. Her wound had clean bandages and her skin was no longer pale and clammy. She slept soundly in the only cot in the room, so Meredith spread out a few fleece blankets and told them to rest there for the night.

Aiden immediately laid down. Selene was much more hesitant to sleep so near to him when so much was still unsaid between them. But she did so anyway without complaint.

She had forgotten how comforting his warmth was.

***

Selene woke to an empty space behind her; Aiden had already risen. Cyan was still sleeping in the cot, seemingly unbothered by her wounds. Selene sat up and looked around, blinking the sleep from her eyes.

"Your friend will be fine," A voice said, Meredith.

She sat on a stool, quietly knitting something together. Her hair had been tied back into a tight bun, and her skin clear as if she had been up for hours.

"Where did Aiden go?" Selene asked, curious.

"To get us some food. That man can never sit still."

Agreed, Selene thought.

"Your friend," Meredith said, motioning to Cyan, "What is her name?"

"Cyan."

"I've never treated a Fae before. Her healing capabilities are astounding. May I ask what attacked her?"

"An Akiri. A man-made monster."

Her sewing never slowed as she responded, "I see."

The silence was filled with the crackling of the fire. Selene still loathed the heat of flame. However as the months had passed, she had been able to slowly control herself around it. Cyan had needed the heat of a fire while they had been in the Frozen Wastes. It was either learn to deal with it or sleep out in the cold, which Selene did a few times.

She still marveled at how she was no longer affected by the cold. Sleeping in the snowbank felt the same to her as sleeping in her old cot back in her barn.

She thought back to her old town and wondered what happened after the demons attacked. Did anyone come through and report it to the General and his men? Was there gossip across the kingdom of another town destroyed, its people slaughtered? If Selene were to guess, she would say that it didn't get far from home. They were far too small and unimportant to be large news.

Cyan stirred in her cot, then fell still again.

Meredith wordlessly put down her sewing needle and walked over to check on Cyan. As she did, Selene picked herself up, stretched, and silently left the cottage.

Each day was gradually getting warmer. Summer didn't exist so far north. It was either spring and fall, or winter. Yet she could hear the birds had returned and see squirrels jumping from branch to branch. She searched for any sign of the dark-haired man and ventured into the surrounding forest to search for him.

She had a question for Aiden that came to mind when she had woken.

Why was he here? Did something happen at the village or did he leave?

She quickly found his trail in the snow. He didn't bother hiding it. Was it because he wanted to be followed, or because he knew nothing tracking him could hurt him?

She followed his boot tracks a mile into the woods before they disappeared completely. She looked at her surroundings, searching for any signs of his passing such as broken branches or twigs. She caught a glimpse of something in the trees. Something large had grabbed onto the branches and travel across them, avoiding the ground.

He was testing her.

She smirked and followed the tracks from the ground, searching for any other signs of his passing in case he was trying to confuse her and lead her astray. She saw nothing so she kept straight.

It was not long after that when the tracks in the branches faded and Selene was left with no other way to follow him. No matter where she looked around, she saw no sign of someone or something passing through. Selene knew of another way to track him, but she was far from perfecting it.

Right after activating her tattoo, Cyan had taught her a way to reach out with her raw magic, like fingers, and feel for other forms of life. Yet Selene had only been able to accomplish it once on their way back to the south with a rather large Niring, a bull-like animal with fur three times as thick and a body twice the size. They were a delicacy of the hardy folk that live in the Frozen Wastes. Yet she had not been able to feel for anything smaller than that.

"No other way to learn than to try," she told herself.

She sat down in the snow, finding this the easiest way to concentrate, and drew out her raw magic.

She could feel tendrils extend from her body, like vines, and sent them out in each direction. Soon, she was drenched in sweat, her brows furrowed as she concentrated.

Patience, she told herself.

She wouldn't be able to keep this for much longer. The amount of power and energy it used up was immense. Cyan said the only reason she could even use this technique was that they hadn't found an end to her power yet. She could stand to lose the excess energy from being inexperienced.

However, there was an end to her stamina, and it was shortly running out.

She had reached out her magic to a span of a half-mile, searching and searching.

Unable to hold it any longer, Selene's eyes snapped open and she gasped. Her magic snapped back to her like a whip, leaving her breathless.

Yet she smiled. She had found him.

Not giving herself time to rest, she pushed off the ground and ran after him. She had felt him a little over a half-mile away, by what felt like a river.

He was clever. He hid by the river because she would not have been able to listen for his footsteps or his breathing. If it were a Fae hunting him they wouldn't be able to sense him.

Yet again Selene wondered where he came from, how he knew so much about the world of magic and the immortal. There was still so much she didn't know about him. So much that was a mystery that she could never seem to figure out.

Soon the sound of the river broke through the silence of the waking forest. She was close.

She knew that he would not make it that easy for her. Once she reached the river bank there must be something else he had done, a trap or puzzle she would have to figure out.

She broke through the tree line, out of breath, and immediately saw him. He stood in the water, up to his knees, his pants rolled up. His back was to her, and she couldn't see what he was doing with his hands.

This was the trap. All she had to do was spring it.

She cleared her throat to get his attention. He turned his head to look at her briefly, then went back to whatever was in his hands.

"I go through all that trouble to be alone and you had to come to find me," he said, his voice lighter than the day before.

"If you wish to leave that badly, then I won't stop you."

He laughed, "Where has your sense of humor gone, Selene?"

She sat down on the ground, leaning back against a tree.

"I left it in the Frozen Wastes along with my sanity," she said and rubbed at her eyes.

"Ah yes, your training. Where was that yesterday when that Akiri found you?" he asked.

Selene looked up at him, all humor gone.

"You've been gone for five months. Don't tell me it was all for nothing," he said.

"It wasn't," she responded. He didn't know that she had been through a year of training, and no doubt he was underestimating her.

He turned around finally, and Selene tensed.

In his hands, he held a fishing line.

No, she thought.

"Then prove it," he said, his voice cold. Then he yanked on the fishing line, or rather the tripwire.

To Selene's right, somewhere in the trees, she heard a click.

Instinct kicked in automatically and she threw herself to the side just as a dagger flew over her head. She felt its edge graze her cheekbone, drawing a thin line of blood, and plunge into the tree behind her. She caught herself with her hands, her heartbeat skyrocketing.

She snapped her head to Aiden, who remained in the river as if he hadn't almost killed her.

"What the hell was that?" she spat.

"The beginning," he said as he picked up his sword and charged her.

There was no time to draw her hunting daggers and knew that they wouldn't last long against his sword. This was also the same sword that Aiden used to slay the Akiri, it was not made of any metal Selene was familiar with. Her daggers would shatter like glass.

Instead, she heaved herself up and dodged his attack by jumping to the side.

"What are you doing?"

"Seeing if those five months were worth it," was all he said.

He swiped at her again, tearing her shirt but missing her skin.

She couldn't use her own weapons. All she had was her Moonfire and her body to try and get the sword away from him. In one hand, she summoned a shard of blue fire and launched it at Aiden, putting him on the defensive. But she didn't approach him.

They had never sparred like this before, each of them a honed, trained warrior. She didn't even know he had such fighting skills. He was going all out now, and she had to study the way he fought and moved before daring approach him.

He was much more fluid than she imagined him to be, similar to Cyan. Selene realized at that moment that Aiden had training from beings other than humans. Most likely Cyan herself.

After evading her shard, Aiden shot forward, his sword aimed at her heart. She couldn't move out of the way in time without being impaled somewhere, so she tried something crazy.

Coating her hands in a shield of Moonfire, like gloves, she slammed her hands on the sides of the blade, stopping it in its tracks right over her chest.

Her arms shook with the effort. She knew she couldn't keep this up forever. Aiden was much stronger than her.

But something strange happened.

The fire from her hands grew when she touched the blade, and the sword began to glow.

A glow very similar to that of the dragon dagger she had at her hip.

"I knew it," Aiden said to himself.

Selene didn't give him a moment to think as she let go of the blade and slammed her foot into his wrist, sending the sword flying into the air. Using his body as a stepping stool, she jumped into the air over his head and snatched it.

Landing back on the ground with the blade of the sword resting on her wrist, her legs bent, she stared him down.

He let out a laugh and put his hands in the air, "I give up. You win."

"What is this sword?" she asked, not moving from her stance.

His smile fell slightly.

"Stop staring at me like that," he said.

"You could have killed me," Selene said, her voice cold.

"But you stand here in front of me alive, don't you?"

Selene narrowed her eyes at him but stood normally. She lifted the sword to look at it, curious.

"Two months after you left a woman came to the village. She wore a mask so no one could see her face save for her eyes. She carried this sword with her and spoke to no one. She went straight to the cavern. No one knows what happened in there but she left immediately after, without her sword. Then I was summoned. The leader handed me this sword and told me that I was to deliver it to its rightful owner. That was the last time I ever saw her."

"Is that why you left? To deliver it?" Selene asked.

Aiden didn't respond, instead, he turned and looked out at the river.

"Aiden."

"Everyone is dead, Selene," he said, his voice almost a whisper.

She took a step back, "What."

"Icarus sent a horde of demons that not even the shifters could stand against. Nothing remains of the village beside bodies."

"How did you get away?" she asked.

"I was out hunting, trying to get something off of my mind. I found their tracks deep in the woods and by the time I had returned, it was too late," he said as he sat on the river bank, head bowed in grief.

"No one was spared. Not even the --," his voice caught.

Selene's knees buckled and she hit the dirt hard. The sword was all but forgotten as it fell from her grasp.

Those demons had been coming for her. If she had been there, if she had finished her training faster, she could have saved them all. She could have saved the children that ran around with smiles on their faces. And now, because of her, they were all dead. And she had promised to protect everyone.

Suddenly, she felt as if she were back home on that dark night as she held Jack as he died. So many people had suffered because of her, because of this king.

"Where is Kadan?" she asked. She didn't want him to answer. She was too scared of it.

"I'm so sorry, Selene," was his only response.

Just like that, a cord in her snapped. The last connection she had to her old life, to Lily, broke in seconds. Kadan was the last thing she had. And without even thinking, she left him. To be murdered.

In that moment, the Selene from the small town in Radëgon died.